Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are at the heart of the creative economy: represent a 6.8% of GDP in Europe and 6.5% of EU workforce, approximately 14.0 million. The Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-2019 contributes to the Commission's new initiative on the Circular Economy, which promotes a transition towards a more circular economy in the EU. Product design is a key aspect in this respect and in future, Ecodesign should make a much more significant contribution to the circular economy (Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-2019.EC). CCIs, like all other industries, are dependent on the material world. Reuse, repurposing, recycling or upcycling are all examples of a broad and unstoppable movement which is reevaluating and maximising resource value through Ecodesign. At the 2nd Green Skills Forum 2014, OECD LEED-Cedefop presented some key challenges for meeting skill needs for green jobs, evidencing that there is an urgent need to support green job skills development strategies in order to prevent the emergence skills bottlenecks in our countries, supporting VET acquisition of Ecodesign and a smooth transition from brown to green jobs. There is also strong evidence that Work-Based Learning (WBL) helps to equip young people with the skills that can improve their employability and ease the transition from school to work. Nevertheless, existing analysis and policy papers in the countries of the project (France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Malta, Spain and UK) evidence that there is still too much distance between the educational environment and the workplace in these countries. Ecodesign4EU project aims to address these challenges designing a new European ECVET Curriculum of reference on Ecodesign for sustainable CCIs, promoting innovative WBL methods and pedagogies addressed to Initial and Continuous VET students, target beneficiaries of the project, in order to acquire and apply Ecodesign principles to CCIs, contributing to lead the transition to a Circular Economy in these sectors. The project will apply also successful and innovative VET methods and tools in Ecodesign principles applied to CCIs, previously tested by the partners. 8 European VET experts and providers, companies and intermediary bodies of the CCIs from 7 countries (France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Malta, Spain and UK) will work together defining common strategies design and carry out the following Outputs: IO1 - European ECVET Curriculum of reference on Ecodesign for sustainable Creative and Cultural Industries IO2 - ECOdesign4EU Virtual Campus. Includes the following Open Educational Resources: (i) an Online Instructional Guide on Digital Competencies for Virtual Learning; (ii) a set of structured Training Modules (iii) Vocational Open Online Courses (VOOC) IO3 - Ecodesign4EU Mobile Assessment App IO4 - Guidelines to foster transparency and recognition of Ecodesign for sustainable CCIs Target users and beneficiaries are: (i) VET teachers, trainers and mentors (ii) Initial and Continuous VET students. Ecodesign4EU will involve directly 109 VET and in company teachers and trainers (32 partners staff /42 experts involved / 35 target users in pilots), 175 I-VET and C-VET students (in pilots) and 535 stakeholders. At local, regional, national and European level the project will reach a minimum audience of 1000 recipients through the project dissemination activities. The project will use European frameworks of reference, such as EQF and ECVET, to promote new learning pathways and boost transparency, recognition and mobility in the CCIs sectors in Europe. Key sectorial and VET associated partners and stakeholders of the CCIs, the VET sector and the Green Economy involved in the project will support the dissemination of the project products and contribute to mainstream the final results. The project will have a direct positive impact in: (i) Partner organizations and entities involved in the project activities. They will improve their training methods and tools; the teaching skills and competencies (including digital skills) of their trainers and teachers; the quality and relevance of their VET courses and WBL programmes. (ii) I-VET and C-VET students. They will improve their Ecodesign through better WBL programmes, opening new opportunities for training, job and mobility. (iii) CCIs sectors. They will count with new training instruments to improve the competitiveness of the sector and supporting its transition towards more circular business models. The envisaged long term impact of the project will be a strengthening of the European VET systems and a more sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe.
The ECOdesign4EU Project has successfully reached the objectives: - The consortium designed a new European ECVET Curriculum of reference on Ecodesign for sustainable CCIs. - The project promoted innovative WBL methods and pedagogies addressed to I-VET and C-VET students in order to acquire and apply Ecodesign to CCIs. - The project provided digital solutions through the ECOdesign4EU Virtual CAMPUS, for the capacity building of VET and in-company teachers and trainers, managers and course designers, with innovative WBL teaching methods to acquire and apply Ecodesign principles in CCIs - The practical and innovative Mobile Assessment App designed to evaluate competences on Ecodesign for CCIs included in the European ECVET Curriculum of reference was co-design by the consortium, adapted and testes - An exploitation strategy for the project was developed and supported through the project results with a Guideline to foster transparency and recognition of Ecodesign for sustainable CCIs.
The ECODesign4EU project was initiated to explore and address the key challenges for meeting skill needs for green jobs presented by the EU's Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-19 and the strive towards a CIRCULAR ECONOMY. The project mainly addressed the challenges faced by the Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in this transition to adhere with measures covering the whole lifecycle of products and materials. In several countries across Europe we are facing a situation where predominantly low-skilled workers are losing their 'brown' jobs, ie jobs that contribute to pollution and environmental degradation. The project identified the skills-gap in alternative approaches to resource management and sought to address this gap through the development of a common European ECVET Curriculum aimed at reaching the demands created by emerging 'green' jobs. Moreover, the project addressed the lack of coordination between skills and environment policies, aiding the implementation of ambitious green growth strategies through the Guidelines to foster transparency and recognition of Ecodesign for sustainable CCIs.